Treat publicity stunts accordingly

Government officials who are so concerned about a Florida preacher’s publicity stunts inciting riots overseas should be more focused on not allowing themselves to be goaded into violating his constitutional rights at home.

The Rev. Terry Jones, pastor of the evangelical Christian Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., and his associate pastor were arrested last week by Polk County sheriff’s deputies as they were on their way to a city park to burn 2,998 copies of the Quran — one for each victim killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The two men were charged with unlawful conveyance of fuel as they traveled in a pickup truck towing a barbecue-style grill filled with Qurans soaked in kerosene.

Jones first drew worldwide attention in 2010 when he announced he would burn a copy of the Muslim holy book on the anniversary of 9/11. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. military officers implored him not to do it, arguing that the act could inflame the Muslim world and endanger American servicemen and women stationed abroad. Jones eventually called it off, although he has burned Qurans other times, which reportedly sparked violent protests in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Recently he said he would burn 2,998 Qurans on 9/11, which once again drew a protest from Army Gen. Lloyd Austin III, commander of U.S. Central Command at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base, who said the act would endanger troops. It also apparently gained the attention of local law enforcement, who intercepted him before he could get to the park.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said deputies saw Jones at a McDonald’s in Mulberry and watched as he doused the books with kerosene on his way to the park. The sheriff said dumping kerosene onto the books presented a hazardous situation.

“He was potentially driving a bomb around if he had gotten into a crash,” Judd said.

Jones has a First Amendment right to burn Qurans. He doesn’t have a right to violate other laws to do it.

However, the government also cannot single him out for enforcement of said laws based solely on who he is and his message.

Did the sheriff’s deputies just happen to spot Jones dousing Qurans with kerosene in the back of his truck? Or were they following him around? If so, why? He wasn’t plotting a crime, but a public protest. Is it customary for police to intervene in such situations? How many other people have been charged with “unlawful conveyance of fuel”? (Perhaps if they announced beforehand they would be towing fuel-soaked material they might be.)

Jones and his followers are the Rev. Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church of anti-Muslim sentiment — clowns who do provocative things to draw publicity. They are best ignored, denying them what they crave: attention.

Page 2 of 2 - However, they cannot be silenced because someone threatens to riot in response — that amounts to a “heckler’s veto” of free speech.

Government should not be using other means to shut Jones up, lest it elevate him from local kook to First Amendment martyr.

This editorial originally appeared in the Panama City News Herald, a Halifax Media Group newspaper in Florida.